kask utopia or protone icon

[neeb]

I have a Protone and a couple of Valegros. The Protone would be the perfect helmet if it wasn't for one thing - the forehead sweat management is awful. Either because of the type of foam or the particular shape (it has a couple of vertical grooves in it), I'll invariably get sweat dumped on the inside of my glasses and in my eyes after about 30-40 minutes. The Valegro used to be not much better, but the newer versions have an excellent large, dual density central pad that works very well at stopping sweat dripping and you can get this pad from Kask to retro-fit to the older versions. Unfortunately the Valegro isn't a very attractive looking lid IMO, while the Protone is one of the best looking.

I don't have the newer Protone Icon but I've heard that it has the same sweat managent issue as the orginal Protone - happy to be corrected otherwise.

I really have high hopes for this new unannounced helmet, as above. Here's another pic:



Nice looking, probably more aero than the Protone, but.... surely they will have sorted that pad issue...?

No more information on this yet?

[andy4g63]

I have 2 utopia and I love it, also Valegro, but fit is different.

The most important is the shape of your head.

My circumference is 58cm.
But my head is oval, like melon and Utopia and even Abuse Gamechanger fit me well in medium.

Protone is too tight for me in M.

So it mostly fit ,not what other people said.

Utopia plays well with my glasses too

[CyclingGiraffe]

I have a Protone and a couple of Valegros. The Protone would be the perfect helmet if it wasn't for one thing - the forehead sweat management is awful. Either because of the type of foam or the particular shape (it has a couple of vertical grooves in it), I'll invariably get sweat dumped on the inside of my glasses and in my eyes after about 30-40 minutes.

Its funny, I don't recall my older helmets doing this sweat-dumping thing (various Specialized, Giro, Bells) the last time I was riding a lot (pre-kids, maybe 2003 through 2007). Even a more recent Orbea Odin that I bought as a stopgap a number of years ago didn't do it. (As an aside, that Odin was a pretty good helmet -- very comfortable, secure and pretty well-ventilated -- even though people hated the way they looked when released! Little did they know that in five years POC would be unleashed on them!)

Then, a couple of years ago, I "upgraded" to a Mavic Comete helment and suddenly, I have issues with the pads getting saturated and "dumping" sweat on the inside of my sunnies. It would be fine for maybe 45 minutes, then suddenly dump a bunch of sweat in my eyes. Thinking the issue might be a lack of ventilation in my tropical locale, I bought a Kask Valegro (with the updated pads) and while it was better, it would still "drizzle" sweat into my glasses on longer rides. After the Kask gave up the ghost in a crash last year, I got a Lazer G1 (current Genesis, for you across the pond), which is ok, but, still does the dumping of sweat thing after the pads become saturated. However, I think due to the shape of the front of the helmet (very thick forehead foam), it primarily dumps sweat on the outside of my sunglasses, where it is less obtrusive since it is not in my eyes.

As to OP, for an all-around helmet, I would go Protone all the way. The comments about the sweat dumping concerns me, but I doubt the Utopia would be any better, given the comparable lack of ventilation.